


5 things Cordelia is grateful for this year

by salable_mystic



Series: Destinies, earlier and later. [3]
Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Gen, five things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-24
Updated: 2010-10-24
Packaged: 2017-10-12 20:50:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/128934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salable_mystic/pseuds/salable_mystic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cordelia is grateful for many things in her life, but right now, five particularly stand out.</p><p>(Part 3 of the "Destinies, ..." series. Spoilers for <i>Cryoburn</i>.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	5 things Cordelia is grateful for this year

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Glishara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glishara/gifts).



1.

Impsec, and Impsec paranoia. Cordelia did not like to admit it, but it was true. She might be trying to travel the space-lanes incognito (and the fact that Impsec monitoring was convincingly unobtrusive and let her do so is yet another thing to be thankful for, so should that be point 2 on her list? Or 1a? ‘ _Well_ , _nevermind_ ,’ she thought, and mentally resumed tallying), but she still was – and, she thought wryly, in some way would always remain – the Dowager Countess Vorkosigan, former Vicereine of Sergyar, former wife of the former Prime Minister and former Regent, who was lately deceased (‘ _Oh_ , _Aral’_ … she could never prevent the mental wail of anguish that that thought brought her, no matter the spatial distance she had managed to put between Barrayar and herself. It was temporal distance that she needed, she knew - but the spatial distance was helping, as well).  And there were about a dozen other things she still was to the people of Barrayar, not the least of which was god-mother to the Imperial heir to the throne. And thus, wherever Impsec had eyes, Impsec kept those discreet eyes on her. And as much as that might rankle, in theory, in practice she’d actually been very grateful for their – discreet – assistance a time or two, in the last standard year. Plus, reports of her whereabouts were undoubtedly sent to Barrayar at regular intervals, and thus to Miles and Gregor, and that saved her from having to send chirpy and cheery reports home herself. (She did not always feel sufficiently chirpy and cheery to do so).

 

2.

Hair dye and scissors. Such small things, but such a big help when you were trying to keep a low profile. Cordelia had not realized just how well-known she actually was, even outside of Barrayaran space, but a mixture of more than two decades of news-reports and a recent and popular holovid series called “War for Barrayar!” which fictionalized Vordarian’s Pretendership (and in which she was played by an actress of dubious skills but with looks that were quite eerily close to those of her younger self) had led to her being recognized so frequently that she’d finally resorted to drastic measures. And while she missed her long roan hair from time to time, missed the accustomed weight down her back and the way it tumbled over her shoulders when she shook her head, life with a short-cropped black wedge cut was just so much easier. So much more anonymous. And it would, after all, grow back, given time.  

 

 

3.

The third item on her list was, funnily enough, “War for Barrayar!” itself, even though it had led to too many people recognizing her, and thus to number two, and the whole hair-dye-and-scissors event. And it was not as if “War for Barrayar!” was a particularly good holovid, or even remotely accurate in any way (aside from the casting of convincing look-alikes for all the major roles, regardless of nonexistent acting skills) – indeed, it diverged from actual events to such a degree that even as an eyewitness she was never quite sure what would be happening next in this fictional rendition … but it was strangely comforting to finally see people who weren’t Barrayarans discussing Aral as something other than the “Butcher of Komarr,” and to see him cast in the role of the hero for once, instead of in the role of the eternal villain. And it was also satisfying to finally get a more nuanced (if terribly mangled) view of Barrayar in a fictional (non-Barrayaran) holovid drama. It made her feel like all the effort they had put into intergalactic relations over the last decades might not have been in vain, after all, and might just be starting to spring some seeds outside the diplomatic arenas. The shape of those seedlings left room for improvement, certainly, but something was finally starting to grow. And growth like this was a good thing.

 

4.

Gregor’s parting gift to her, which, while not sentimental, had been of eminent practical value. For, after Cordelia had told him that she was leaving Barrayar – had to leave Barrayar, or go crazy amidst the ghosts and shadows and memories, he had ordered Impsec (‘ _Impsec_ _again_ ,’ Cordelia thought – it was disconcerting how often she came back to Impsec in this mental list)  to not only keep the two cover identities she had been issued with once Aral became Regent of Barrayar available to her (cover identities which they had never had reason to use during the Regency, thankfully), but also to issue her with two additional ones, identities that were more tailored to her skills and knowledge, to Cordelia as a single person - and not to her as one half of a whole, as Aral’s wife, as the previous two had been. She’d made good use of one of them, too, and had been travelling as Elizabeth Skysmith for the last five wormhole jumps. Like the haircut, it made life so much easier. And, well ... more hazardous, too. For where Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan was a high-profile person, who was bound to show up on the local news in a lot of the places she went, that very same high profile was also a reasonable security insurance, for if something happened to the Dowager Countess Vorkosigan, people would almost instantly know about it. Whereas no-one (aside from Impsec) cared where Elizabeth Skysmith went. And out here, not even Impsec managed to be everywhere. And all that led her straight to …

 

5.

Elli Quinn.

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Glishara, by way of appologies, because her "help_pakistan" fic is still not done. This fic is not that fic, but it's a kind of set up fic for the "help_pakistan" one, and things will show up there again. (And, yes, #5 will become less cryptic :-) ).


End file.
